


over and over

by tasteofsummersnow



Category: Mario (2018)
Genre: A failed attempt at a Fix-It, Angst, Character Study, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-25 20:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20917742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tasteofsummersnow/pseuds/tasteofsummersnow
Summary: They call it a football fairy tale. Little do they know.





	over and over

**Author's Note:**

> I rewatched the movie yesterday and it made me sad, so I decided to give these two a happy ending. Except I failed. Badly. So, here, have some more angst and sadness because they both obviously haven't suffered enough...

Mario makes it. And he makes it big.

The boy from a small city in tiny Switzerland makes it to the world stage of football.

St. Pauli is just the beginning. Within two years, he plays for Hoffenheim in the 1st Bundesliga. And then, another three years later, at only twenty-five, he gets an offer from Tottenham that is too good to refuse.

Not that he would have. Playing in England comes with Three-Game-Weeks, more goals to be scored, more passes to be played, more kilometres to be run, more practice to be attended. Less time to slow down. Less time to think.

They call it a football fairy tale, when the boy from tiny Switzerland gets to play in the Champions League quarterfinals. They say he earned it by working harder than anyone else. By staying humble and giving his all to the sport.

Little do they know that it’s the only thing he can do to keep himself from breaking. 

Forward. Forward is the only way to escape the lies.

\---

The offer from the national team comes, of course. 

Mario is tempted to decline. But then he thinks of his parents who have given him so much, of his father, whom Mario, in spite of everything, just wants to make proud. He accepts.

There are no rumours, this time. Even though Mario knows some of his team mates play with the guys that where there for it all. They have been told, he’s sure. But no one says a single word. Instead, within four years, Mario makes captain.

He is living the dream, for everyone to see. 

Hardly anyone ever looks close enough to notice that he doesn’t stop to live.

\---

There are a few guys over the years that he is attracted to. None of them are ever worth the risk. There is one drunk fling, but other than that nothing at all.

But that’s okay. Because Mario made it. He made it big. He is living the dream.

He is fine.

Until he meets _him_ again and he just… breaks.

\---

It’s a chance meeting. One so unlikely that it would later seem like fate.

He runs into him at the airport in Dortmund. Literally runs into him.

The first thing that’s familiar is the smell. Then, as he pulls back to apologise, ignoring the pang of longing that he always feels when something reminds him of _him_, he finds himself face to face with Leon Saldo’s sad, sad eyes.

\---

He should have run.

Instead, they go get coffee. It’s awkward, it’s sad and it’s everything Mario has yearned for for years. Then Leon’s flight gets called.

He leaves. Casually, without giving out any contact information, without any sign that this hurts him, too. Without giving Mario any hope that they’ll see each other again.

And Mario? Mario doesn’t run after him this time either. He just watches him leave. Again.

And then…

He breaks.


End file.
